Intro: Not exactly a feminist critique, but in similar spirit. Proposal for a "new" model.

1. Global vs. Local Autonomy

1. Global (Dworkin): autonomy can only be assessed over person’s life –a way of living (i.e. a semi-realizable ideal).
2. Local (Christman): in some areas of life we are more autonomous than others

1. Criticisms of Mainstream View

1. Identification: what does this mean?

1. Weak: anything goes –mere acknowledgment a desire resides in us
2. Strong: perfect me! – I approve of all things about me
3. Vague Notion: earlier critics have hammered this notion and it still isn’t clear.

1. Dworkin’s Revisions

1. Autonomy doesn’t always require ability to alter
2. Socialization can secure congruence
3. Ab initio & Incompleteness Problems: failing to secure 2^nd order desires leaves autonomy (i.e. the "ability") groundless and therefore little more than window dressing. So where’s the rest of the acct?

1. Deepness of Socialization Problem

1. Frankfurt’s decisiveness maneuver: under manipulation it secures autonomy no more than bare second order preference
2. "Time-Slice" Approach: structure of model is culprit. It leaves us no way to grasp larger context of person’s life –namely personal history, i.e. the formation of desires.

1. "New" Model

1. Shift Focus in Object of Reflection: self-awareness of personal history and desire formation
2. The Model

1. A person is autonomous relative to some desire when they did not resist the development of it when attending to this process, or wouldn’t IF they reflected on it.
2. CPI: Lack of resistance does not (or would not) occur under conditions that inhibit self-reflection.
3. Minimal rationality and no self-deception are mandatory.

1. Hypothetically Ideal Reflection

1. Hypothetical: autonomous agents need not actually reflect, the model is construed as a counterfactual test.
2. Ideal: Transparency of desires and motives is unlikely, as full knowledge of relevant aspects of ourselves is not forthcoming.

1. Self-Deception

1. Transparency requires we have available and pertinent information.
2. Self-deception: strategic suppression of relevant knowledge
3. Manifest contradiction ensues: such facts collide with "cover story"

1. Advantages of "New" Model

1. Regress Avoided

1. Regress is a problem for hierarchical views, because they rest upon reference to other preferences or desires.
2. C’s appraisal of personal history doesn’t do this: it only rests upon sufficient self-awareness and minimal rationality.

1. CPI

1. Protects against appraisal of persona history being manipulated
2. CPI designed to protect: minimal rationality and self-awareness
3. Doesn’t rule out certain contents or functional roles that desires, preferences or ideals may play, c.f. Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Capitalist, Socialist, etc.

1. Content Neutrality:

1. Autonomous desires can take up any content: even evil ones, subservient ones, and slavish ones
2. Imagined Conditions: a theory should be this way because we can imagine contexts in which such desires are reasonable and can come to be autonomously held